Two-piece key



April 1, 1952' P. ZIEGLISS TWO-PIECE KEY Filed Oct. 17, 1947 PatentedApr. 1, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TWO-PIECE KEY Peter Ziegliss,Bronx, N. Y.

Application October 17, 1947, Serial No. 780,473

(Cl. l-395) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a lock and key arrangement and moreparticularly to a lock in which a separable key may be utilized, thatis, a key that may be separated into two parts and the end insertedwithin the lock to prevent any similar key or master key from beinginserted. It is understood that the remaining section of the key may beutilized to both open said lock and to remove the inserted portion ofsaid key.

Most locks are so constructed that a key of a given pattern will opensaid lock. It is also true that any number of keys of similar patternmay be used to open the same lock or a master or skeleton key might beused to pick the tumblei's and open said lock. But all such known artcontemplates the use of a complete key.

It is an object of this invention to utilize a key that is constructedin two parts to open a lock. and in which said key may be snappedtogether within the lock to form a single key pattern.

It is a further object of this invention to utilize a lock and keyarrangement in which the lock may be opened by a single key pattern, butin which the key is made in two separable parts.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a two pieceseparable key that ts a lock, and makes said lock tamper-proof when onesection of said key is inserted.

Otherobjects of this invention may be apparent by reference to theaccompanying detailed description and drawings in which Fig. 1illustrates the separable key.

Fig. 2 illustrates the lock and key.

Fig. 3 illustrates the lock with a portion of the key inserted, and

Fig. 4 illustrates the same lock and key portion with lthe remainingportion of said key.

Referring to Fig. 1 there is illustrated a separable key I0 comprised oftwo portions II and I 2. The portion I I has a broke nor irregular faceI4 that mates with a face I5 of the portion I2. The portion II is alsoprovided with a pair of small spring snaps or catches IB and I1. while ithe portion I2 is provided with a pair of snaps or catches I8 and I9.The catches I6 and I8 are aligned to engage, while the catches I1 and I9are aligned to engage. Referring to Fig. 2 there 1s illustrated atypical barrel lock 20, that may be opened by a solid key -2 I. Thepattern of key 2| may be copied in making the key I0, thus referring toFig. 3 we may see that when the portion II of key I 0 is inserted in thelock 20, it may be pushed in but cannot be removed. The lock 20 having akey piece II within the barrel will not permit an additional key such as2| to be inserted. The lock 20 thus may not be opened by any key exceptthe remaining portion I2 of key I0. Referring to Fig. 4 it is apparentthat the portion I2 of key I0 may be inserted in the lock 20 and thespring snaps or catches, IB-I8 and I 1--I9 will become engaged and thekey I0 becomes a single unit and as such may be utilized to open thelock 20 and likewise when portion I2 of key I0 is withdrawn from thelock 20 it will remove the portion II at the same time. The key I0 asillustrated may be cut away or made into separable portions in anymanner without departing from the spirit of this invention. It isapparent that although we have i1- lustrated one embodiment of thisinvention we may likewise form various other types of keys in two ormore portions to perform a similar master key lock arrangement. Thedifference in the use of the term master key being that in this instanceit is the remaining portion that is removed from the lock that becomesthe master key. It is also apparent that although a key may beduplicated and used by diiierent users it is quite impossible for anyoneto duplicate the manner in which the key may be separated and thus thelock may be utilized by one or more persons when desirable or it may belocked by the separable key to prevent its use by other than the oneholding the master key.

Various changes and modications may be made to this device withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention and this invention shall belimited only by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A key for a cylinder lock having ashank made up'oi two complementarymating parts, a spring catch on each part in latching engagement to holdthe two parts together, one part being adapted to be unlatched from theother part forseparate insertion in the key passageway of a cylinderlock, and the other part upon insertion in said passageway becominglatched with said one part by said spring catches for actuation of saidlock and retraction of the two parts from said passageway.

PETER ZIEGLISS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,573,791 Roethlisberger Feb. 16.1926 1,696,326 Roethlisberger Dec. 25, 1928 1,728,310 Sundel Sept. 17,1929 1,807,540 Makranczy May 26, 1931 2,068,936 Unterberg Jan. 26, 1937FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 256,167 Italy Dec. 12. 1927

